Marcus Miller M6 Headless 6 MS

I wanted to get a light, yet powerful and versatile 6 string bass.

Having 6 string, 4 string, musicman style, PJ style basses I all like, I really wanted a headless one for simpler transport, less weight on the shoulder. And I don't understand why people go 5, if you can get 6 ;-).
Living far from any high end guitar shops where you can test or buy decent basses, I was thinking of buying this bass online. The question was: black sandblasted ash or red mahogany. Most videos/online places only talk about the sandblasted one, hard to make a decision for to me such an important criteria.


Then by chance I was able to play a sandblasted 5 string version by myself in a shop. The sound versatility was fantastic, the weight/balance as well. But the sandblasted wood was very strange to me. Now this is personal, but I write this review as I believe lot of players do ask themselves what is that sandblasted thing about. Hopefully this helps.
The sandblasted wood is very "structured", and gives very special/intriguing look. But as its so structured it seems they have to covered it with very strong/tough painting. If you take the bass the wood does not feel like wood, more like very solid plastic. I hope you ge the point, it is definitely wood, but the feel you get is not really the typical wood touch. I did not like that at all. The look is very amazing, but to me feeling of the bass is also important.
So I ordered the mahogany M6 6 string. I was super nervous on delivery. bass quality etc. until I got it.
I got it, and well, I don't want to sound naive or like a Sire fan boy..
First thought was, it is SOOOO beautiful. the Mahogany is polished, rarely seen a bass finish like that. The neck is superbe. It is huge/large but so smooth. Playability is top. Immediatly plugged in, to play it. As the battery are separately in the box you start playing passive mode, and it just sounds...


My second thought was, what the hell to do now with all my other basses now, I can sell them as they are useless now (except maybe the fretless one). No kidding :-).
Now let's get to the instrument itself.
- Body Balance 5 of 5, there is a tiny tiny little trend to slide of the leg to the right as all the weight is at the lower end of the bass.

- Passive mode sounds super, like on any Sire bass I played so far. The B string sounds good, but you don't get the 37" Dingwall sound, which is normal as the scale is "35.

- Amp and pickup switches: very versatile, a bit over complex, and you can end up with, to me, useless sounds. but you also have tons of very good sounds. This just needs adaptation and playing around, getting used to. It is good to have all options.

- Neck, as said just perfect to play. Round and smooth, the strings are set super low and very well playable. I actaully increased the string height as I am looking for fat sound.

- Fan frets / fingerboard: I think the important question for anyone is, do I get around with fan frets or not. To be honest if there would be the same bass in normal frets I would have preferred, as I would stay with the same system as on all me other basses, including my fretless. But I did not like the M10 look and LeFay, Dingwall 6 string headless are too expensive. I therefore spent a bit of time on this aspect in the review. The white dots on the side of the neck are almost invisible. When playing they won't help you really to see where you are. The inlays are all looking by itself identical so again they are of not much help. In addition due to the frets going accros, looking from the top on the fingerboard is at the beginning confusing to see where your fingers are. But I realized, when I play not looking at the finger board as I read the partition (big band music), my finger just hit the right note as on a normal fret system. My take is, Sire fan fret is very natural to the finger movement. Now after few weeks I feel super comfortable playing it. But whenever you have to look up in a hurry where you are on the fingerboard, it is less evident than on a straight system, keep that in mind. I played Ibanez fanfret and Dingwalls. Dingwalls I found is also very good/natural, while Ibanez is very different, less natural.

Some people mention problem with the pointiness of the string holder on the C string. Yes it is super picky. I do not come to touch it when playing, for me a no issue. If it becomes one I un-mount it, file it round a bit and done... Sire could do that indeed already by factory default in the future.

The tuners itself is ok to tune. Some people say its super smooth without force, while the "old tuners" where almost impossible to tune. On my one you still need a bit of force to tune, not a problem for me, but a child would have issues tuning this, compared to the classic tuners on a head stock bass...

Wanted to do a quick review, finally longer than what was planned.

By the way, it fits in a hanging stand from Hercules. That is a nice plus.

Having over 20 years of experience in both playing and building instruments, I want to give a highly realistic and objective review.
This bass has exceeded all my expectations. It is extremely lightweight, and the build quality is fantastic. I tested it on two different amplifiers – a budget 300€ home amp and a premium rig worth over 2000€. It performed exceptionally well on both, completely surprising me with its tone and responsiveness.The multiscale design is brilliantly executed. Unlike most multi-scale basses where the perpendicular (neutral) fret is around the 7th fret, Sire placed it at the 15th fret. This means the frets around the 12th position are not as aggressively slanted, making it much more comfortable and natural to play. The body is beautifully crafted from a single piece of wood, which is rare nowadays since even some highly expensive basses are glued from multiple pieces. The finish is flawless.The neck is also masterfully done. It is a multi-laminated neck made of excellent quality wood, with the grain patterns properly oriented at a 90-degree angle – exactly how it should be done, though some expensive brands fail to deliver this level of craftsmanship. The pickups and electronics are excellent, providing great tonal variety, and there is absolutely no need to upgrade them.Now, for a few minor cons and design specifics that are worth mentioning:Ergonomics at the 1st fret: When playing the 6th string on the first fret, my index finger occasionally rubs against the metal headpiece/nut area where the strings are locked, which causes slight discomfort. It might partly be due to my personal playing technique, but it is something to keep in mind regarding the compact headless design.The neck pocket joint could be a fraction of a millimeter tighter near the curves (we are talking about 0.5 mm, nothing serious).The control knobs feel plastic, which is understandable since they had to cut costs somewhere to keep this price point.Sire uses proprietary pickup dimensions, so swapping them out might be tricky for some (though unnecessary as the stock ones sound great).You need to be careful with string selection. The stock 6th string is a .125. If you decide to buy a .130 set, keep in mind that you will have to slightly file the nut slot.The bass arrives perfectly set up right out of the box, so you won’t have to tweak anything. It also comes with an excellent, high-quality padded gig bag.Is it worth the money? Absolutely. You will not regret buying it. The price is more than justified, and the quality is far superior to many well-known brands that cost up to three times more.
I highly recommend it!
Simply put, for this amount of money, you absolutely cannot get a better bass on the market today.